Re: Weekend Warrior! Hyundai Xcent Diesel (base variant) Completed the third free service this week @ 22000 kms. I missed the 20k mark due to a variety of reasons. The service bill came to around Rs.6500, major component was around Rs.1400 for interior cleaning. I think next time around, I'll get the interior cleaning done by the car wash guys in Electronic City.
My parents have a i10 Grand Automatic back home in Kerala, and I'm totally in love with the car. The three things that I like the most about that car are:
1. You don't have to change the gear once you've slotted the gear into the Drive mode.
2. Since you don't have to change the gear a lot, you can keep your left leg fully stretched and rested against the wall of the pedal well.
3. At all times the auto gearbox tries to keep the engine rpm between 1k - 2k range, thereby giving a smooth ride.
So I've tried to replicate the above features while driving my Xcent:
1. In my daily drive, I've identified certain stretches where I can drive in a single gear without changing -- my house to the main road> 2nd gear, main road to service road>3rd gear, service road> 2nd gear till spead breakers, then 3rd gear. By doing this I have consciously cut down the number of gear changes, thereby improving my drive experience.
2. Since now I don't change gears that often, I'm able to keep my left leg freely rested in the pedal well.
3. Every gear that I use, I keep the engine rpm in the 1k - 2k range. If < 1k, I'll need to change down and if >2k I'll need to change up. So if I stick to the 1k-2k range, I can avoid the need to change gears. This has helped me to cut down fatigue in long drives and increased mileage -- I got 25.7 kmpl in a recent Bangalore-Kochi trip. I used to do Bangalore-Malappuram 300km (Kerala) in one day and then do Malappuram-Kochi 192km the next day. But now I'm able to squeeze in both stretches in a single day which is a great boon if you have to meet your in-laws AND your parents within a small weekend trip and keep everyone happy.
The Bangalore traffic has been very supportive in my driving experiment so far -- everybody just overtakes from the side and zooms away, as a result I'm always travelling behind every traffic block which clears up by the time I crawl up to it! Problems are -- Drive time increases by about 15-20 mins max, co-passengers might get irritated thinking that you are in no hurry to reach anywhere, possibility of eager beaver two-wheelers to scratch in their hurry to overtake.
...but all said and done, I still want something which is a diesel, an automatic, has cruise control and costs less than 15 lacs...
Last edited by MudMover : 4th September 2015 at 12:34.
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